The statements were made this Thursday by the Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, who was speaking at the headquarters of Endiama, in Luanda, after a presentation on the state of the diamond industry given by Martin Rapaport, a central figure in the international diamond trade.
"De Beers, as you know, is the soul of natural diamonds. The main shareholder of De Beers is selling its stake. What I can assure you is that we are not distracted," declared the official, referring to the decision of the British multinational Anglo American, which currently holds 85 percent of De Beers, to sell its position in the diamond multinational.
The remaining 15 percent of De Beers belongs to the government of Botswana, Africa's largest diamond producer, which may increase its shareholding.
"Few people have noticed, but I traveled to London and met with the CEOs of Anglo American and De Beers. I also spoke with the president of Botswana, who was here at the US-Africa meeting, and I have spoken with my counterpart from Botswana. I can say that we are not distracted, because we cannot let De Beers fall. We cannot leave De Beers in the hands of those who do not have the same interest as those who have natural diamonds," the minister stressed.
When asked by Lusa about a possible interest by Angola in acquiring a stake in De Beers, Diamantino Azevedo refused to go into details, simply stating that the government is "attentive" to the situation and that is why "it wanted to speak with its partners."
According to estimates by international analysts, the value of Anglo American's stake in De Beers could be between 2 and 2.5 billion dollars, less than half of the book value, due to the drop in demand for natural diamonds and growing competition from synthetic diamonds.
Anglo American is a London-based multinational with operations on several continents, including Africa, South America, Asia and Australia, exploring platinum, copper, iron, coal, nickel and diamonds, the latter through De Beers.
In Angola, Anglo American has mining investment contracts with the government for the prospecting of base metals in the provinces of Cunene and Moxico.
De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer, returned to Angola in 2022 after an absence of around ten years, having established new contracts with the Angolan state-owned company Endiama and identified multiple exploration areas with high diamond potential.
